Flogging Molly’s Salty Dog Cruise – Debuting a Mini Skate Ramp

February 16th, 2017 – Los Angeles, CA – Flogging Molly’s Salty Dog Cruise is scheduled to set sail March 10th – 13th 2017 to the Bahamas! To debut the mini skate ramp aboard the cruise ship, Matt Hensley and Flogging Molly have invited legendary H-Street Skaters, along with other iconic riders. The ramp is being built by Brian Schaefer of the renowned Skatepark of Tampa. The third annual three night, four day floating festival will make stops in Coco Cay and Nassau, Bahamas. Skaters include Matt Hensley, Danny Way, John Schultes, Eddie Elguera, Art Godoy, Ron Allen, Tony Mag, Steve Ortega, Sal Barbier and Steve Godoy.

Fans can spend their weekend aboard the Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas cruise ship with some of their favorite bands and skateboarding legends – with food, late night dance parties and plenty of other surprises included! Artists set to perform include Flogging Molly, NOFX, Devotchka, Less Than Jake, The English Beat, Bouncing Souls and more! To book a room or for more information, please visit: http://floggingmollycruise.com.

On the announcement of the skating addition to this annual cruise, Matt Hensley of Flogging Molly shared, “”Since our first Salty Dog Cruise in 2015, I knew I wanted to add skateboarding to it. Something just feels right about skating with live music. It will be a sweet spectacle on the ocean.”

H-Street Skateboards was founded in 1986 by professional skateboarder Tony Magnusson and his friend, Mike Ternasky. The two teamed up with fellow pro Dave Andrecht to form one of the first skateboard companies whose main focus was “street” skating along with being one of the first companies run solely by skateboarders. Tony’s basic idea was that skateboard companies should be run by skateboarders, not guys in suits that didn’t skate, and that skateboarding should be a source of unlimited creative expression.

In 2016, Matt Hensley and Danny Way joined forces with Tony to reissue seven of the original boards released in the ’80s-using the original artwork, and original ‘Made in USA’ manufacturing methods-in what can only be described as a full product restoration operation, to the delight of skateboard collectors worldwide.

Danny Way is now one of the best skateboarders in the world, has set untold records, invented a new form of skateboarding and has founded several companies, including DC Shoes, XYZ Clothing and Plan B Skateboards.

Steve Ortega was added to the H-Street Team in 1987 and turned professional in January 1988 with an ease and technical style that helped push street skating into a new era with moves like Tre-flips and kickflip tail, slides to name a few.

Art Godoy was part of the original H-Street crew, as was his twin brother Steve. They were both early innovators in tattoo art and punk rock music and took their art and attitude to create some of the best H-Street graphics of all time. Between the two of them, they created an art style for skateboard graphics that was totally unique and have never been duplicated.

Tony Magnusson started skateboarding in Stockholm, Sweden in 1976. He jumped on a plane to California with a one-way ticket at age 15 to pursue his life dream of becoming the best skateboarder in the world. While the beginning was humble, over a 20 year time span, Tony Mag travelled the world as a professional skateboarder, started several companies that have exceeded $10M in annual sales, including H-Street Skateboards and Osiris Shoes.

John Schultes was one of the original Del Mar Skate Ranch rats and rode for Tony Mag’s company. The two travelled quite a bit in the early days of 80’s skateboarding, including the very first skate camp in Visalia, where they both met Mike Ternasky and the plans to form H-Street began. He stayed with H-Street during the heyday of 80’s skating and was good friends with the Godoy’s.

Salvador “Sal” Barbier helped revolutionize skateboarding style and fashion in the nineties as an accomplished professional athlete. With more than 20 years in the fashion and action sports industries, Sal keeps a keen fashion sense and an always close-to-market awareness of emerging trends and styles coupled with a career’s worth of deep industry relationships within the design, fashion and skateboarding worlds.

Mike saw Matt Hensley’s skateboarding and gave him a box of H-Street decks just before calling Tony Magnusson to inform him that the future of H-Street had arrived. By the time Matt’s footage in Shackle Me Not dropped two years later, a new generation of skateboarders would agree.

Ron Allen made his skateboard mark on the world with his ollies while riding for H-Street Skateboards in the late 80’s with fellow Salty Dog Cruise skateboarders Danny Way, Matt Hensley and many others. Ron is probably the oldest veteran street skating pro still shredding and competing at over 50 years old. Ron is a true skateboarder untainted by the industry pit falls; to him everything about skateboarding is fun. Beyond skating, Ron’s other passions include music, which he’s also done for over 25 years.

In 1979, Eddie Elguera, or “El Gato,” received the title of U.S. Amateur Skateboard Association Champion. He then went on to the professional circuit and became Skateboarder of the Year, along with receiving the “Most Spectacular New Maneuver” award for inventing the Elguerial, a skateboard maneuver named after him. Now in his 50’s, he still competes around the world in the Legends Division of Skateboarding. He is considered an innovator, mentor and inspiration to many in the skateboard industry including Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Christian Hosoi and Eric Koston.

Taylor Phelps is a California State University of Channel Islands graduate with a degree in Communications. Born and raised near the coast of Southern California, she has developed a passion for the ocean and the mountains. Additionally, she has a special interest in cross cultural communication and plans to develop her knowledge on the topic by traveling the world someday.